The Scad (Savannah College of Art and Design) Savannah Film Festival is bringing some of the year’s biggest animated contenders together for a star-studded pixels and pencils showcase, with six filmmakers set to put their creative process under the spotlight.
The animated line-up packs plenty of punch: Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow, Kelsey Mann’s Inside Out 2, Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail, Morgan Neville’s Piece By Piece, Josh Cooley’s Transformers One and American filmmaker and animator Chris Sanders’ The Wild Robot.
And Sanders has more than one reason to roll into Savannah. The Wild Robot writer-director will receive the festival’s Icon of Animation Award, adding another accolade to a career packed with animated heavyweights. From Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon to The Croods, Sanders has helped shape some of animation’s most recognisable worlds.
His career credits also include writing work on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and Mulan, alongside character design contributions to the Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda franchises.
Sanders will also return to one of his signature worlds when the festival screens How to Train Your Dragon on 27 October, celebrating 30 years of DreamWorks Animation.
On 30 October, Scad alumni working at the studio will take the stage for a panel spotlighting the creative talent behind projects including Kung Fu Panda 4, The Bad Guys, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and The Wild Robot.
The panel will feature DreamWorks Animation head of effects Jason Mayer, lead lighting artist Emily Wimer and senior effects artist Jinguang Huang.
Scad Savannah Film Festival executive director Christina Routhier stated, “Scad is excited to recognise Sanders with this year’s Icon of Animation Award at the 2024 Scad Savannah Film Festival. Sanders has profoundly shaped the world of animation with generational favorite films like Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon.”
The animation festivities follow Scad AnimationFest, which ran from 26 to 28 September in Atlanta, bringing together creatives and executives from Adult Swim, Bad Robot, Crafty Apes, DC Studios, DreamWorks Animation, Netflix and Warner Bros. Animation.
Meanwhile, Variety will roll out its third annual 10 artisans to watch list on 23 October, spotlighting talent across cinematography, costume design, editing, hair and makeup, production design, sound and visual effects.
With more than 63,000 people attending the eight-day festival each year, the Scad Savannah Film Festival is set to turn Savannah into a hub of cinematic creativity, from screenings and premieres to workshops, lectures and industry panels.
Photo credit: Scad Savannah Film Festival
